Sunday, May 31, 2009

I have been having such fun exploring new blogs, over the past few days who are participants in the Giveaway Day! ... what a fantastic time-waster!! (although, time spend enjoying yourself is never time wasted - someone clever said that!)

You still have time to enter my May Giveaway - see the post below for your chance to win one of two of my new Little Loxie pattern kits (good luck!) The Giveaway ends today - 31st, which is tomorrow morning (US time).. does that make sense?!As I work til late tomorrow, I'm keeping my giveaway open until tomorrow evening - about 8pm Brisbane time ... so there's still time! ;)

These kits include pattern pieces, easy-to-follow instructions and pieces of vintage fabrics to make your very own Little Loxie! Fun.

The two winners will receive a Little Loxie pattern of their choice - Bronty, Chirpy or Dashie - in a pretty blue fabric combo.

To be in the running, all you need to do is leave a comment to this post, letting me know which one is your favourite Little Loxie pattern. You can see them here in my Etsy shop.... and I'm happy to post overseas too!

I will choose two winners using a random number generator. The giveaway is open until 31st May - plenty of time to check out my Etsy shop and leave a comment, as well as checking out all the other blogs participating in the May Giveaway Day!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I've been working hard drafting up some patterns for my Little Loxies. And now they are finished! yay :D

I have 3 Little Loxies patterns up in my LittleJellygnite Etsy shop. They are in pdf format - easy to send - and I'm planning on adding some pattern kits as well which will include fabrics and felt.

I just love my Little Loxies - mostly because my son's drawings were the inspiration, but also because I love finding / rescuing fabrics that would be suitable, then finding other ones to coordinate them with.

I hope my new patterns sell alright on Etsy - hopefully people will find them cute enough to want to make them themselves!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Wow! What a few wet and wild days we've had!We were luckier than others to escape with only wet shoes at our place, but more wild weather is forecast.

This wild weather was a good reminder to made some cozier clothes. I had bought a few big jumpers at op shops after last winter in the hope of refashioning them successfully.This is the first one - a lovely red that I felted, took in the side seams and added a cowl collar.

It's very snuggly! I'm so happy how this one turned out - love the collar! It's a little bit shorter than I would like (you can see my green t-shirt peeking out the bottom!), but it's ok! I have another woolly one and a lovely green cotton one to magic into something else next!

Other exciting news is that I have been doing up some patterns of my Little Loxies and they are making their debut in my LittleJellygnite Etsy shop over the weekend! It has been very fun drafting the patterns and I like the idea of others making their very own Loxie in their choice of fabrics and colours; giving it their own little finishes!

I am also offering 2 pattern kits as giveaways on May 27th as part of Giveaway Day ... so stay tuned!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

My son sleeps with ten 'babies' every night. There is not a great deal of room in his bed left for him but he is very loyal, so they all stay. Today they needed a little freshen up, so were loving placed out in the sun for a little bath! ... and gave me a lovely shadow shot for Hey Harriet's one year anniversary of Shadow Shot Sunday!

Happy anniversary Tracy! Thanks for sharing the shadows! Head over to her blog for more.

Along with bathing 'babies', I also had a BrisStyle catch-up to attend. Such a nice thing to do on a Sunday, and also very nice to meet a few new faces that I hadn't met before; it's hard putting faces to names - or Etsy shop names!! We met across the road from St Augustine's Church in Hamilton where we will be holding our BrisStyle Indie Designers markets on July 14th - not too far away now! Exciting.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

On Sunday I thought about my grandma who was such a huge and influential part of my childhood and was saddened that I can no longer share things with her; I thought about my own Mum, now appreciating and understanding more and more what it was like for her, mothering us; and I thought about the so many wonderful women I know, who while not all of them have children, they are all so nurturing and caring.

We had lunch at our place on Sunday. I made the dessert, but everything else was done for Mum and me. I was so lucky to find a perfect gift for my Mum - a lover of all things Art Deco. This tray was shoved in a shelf at my local op shop - $4 and a nice polish later, it was looking very special!! I added some white chocolate (her favourite!) and this cute wrist pincushion I made from this pattern. Also, I made a little tray cloth using the beautiful Ink&Spindle fabric I bought at the Stitches and Craft Show.

As for me .... I get to go shopping for a *new* camera!! woo hoo :D

My Mothers day extended beyond Sunday though. I had the most delightful night last night; my boy's school organised a Mothers' Day dinner - just the prep students and their mums were invited. The tables were set out with handwritten place cards and a vase of flowers, there were special menus that the kids could tick off their Mum's choice of pizza and there were lots of excited five year olds!!

We were also given a special gift (little note pad) and card. The kids were instructed to serve their Mums first which was an amazing lesson in patience!! The Prep teachers, the teachers' aides, the prac students and the principal were all there to help the evening run smoothly.

After our meal - and this is the best bit!!! - we were given a hand massage and manicure from the kids!!! Just gorgeous - can you imagine what your nails might look like after a five year old has painted them?! Luckily the polish colours were all on the clear and sparkly side, not bright red! The boys at our table asked their Mums to reciprocate the nail polishing, so we all had fancy nails by the end!!

It was just such a lovely night - it made my heart sing seeing the beside-yourself-excitement in the kids, particularly my darling boy's, but also that the teachers had organised such an event (and given up their Monday night).

Saturday, May 9, 2009

I had a market this morning and it was rather flat. Very flat, actually - I sold ONE item (.. how embarrassing!) .. quite a few people admiring and commenting favourably, but not buying! Ah well ... I guess that means I'm saving my stock for the fabulous BrisStyle Indie Designers Markets in July - can't wait for those!!!

Now to the giveaways: The BrisStyle blog has Kitty Boo Boo and Betsy Kingston as our featured Brisstylettes this month and both are giving away some lovely goodies!

Miss Kitty Boo Boo has these very gorgeous booties that she is giving away - so sweet! - as well as some hair clips and a cute brooch.

Bettsy Kingston has these ridiculously gorgeous "Hungry Caterpillar" baby pants up for grabs in the giveaway. (there's a little boy's version too - cute!)

Monday, May 4, 2009

The Stitches and Craft Show has come and gone, and my! what a fun time I had!

The lovely Helen from Ruby 2 GoGo provided me with a 'helpers' pass so I was able to visit her on Thursday afternoon and Sunday to help her out at her incubator spot. I had a lovely time 'working' (chatting, really!) with Helen, meeting visitors to the show as well as catching up with fellow BrisStylettes and fellow crafty types.

I also met up with Justine from MixTape. It was lovely meeting her face to face after our many emails back and forth! Justine is so lovely and I can't wait til the next issue of her fabulous MixTape to come out!Kelley from the eco-fabulous Peppermint Magazine was there at the show too. Her mag, only in it's second issue, is the best ec- conscious fashion and craft magazine out! Love it :)

On Friday I volunteered at the 'Reconstruction Zone' where they had set up 4 machines, overlockers, piles of fabric and old clothes ready to be remade into gorgeous creations. There were also ribbons, buttons, braids etc to finish off with! The visitors to the show loved it; it was free and fun!

The 'Zone' was quite busy Friday morning with a group of school kids coming and going, making sexy dresses, fun skirts and aprons and cozies for their DSs. The few school boys who were there were the most earnest and involved - I loved it!!

I also managed to have some lull times to make myself this little clutch from old trousers and a business shirt cuff. Fun!

Nichola gave me this Burda fold-up shopping bag at the end of the day for my help - love the fabric!!Of cousre, my visits to the show would not have been complete without purchases!! I bought this beautiful book on handmade books (gorgeous inspiration!)

... as well as some delicious fat quarters from the Ink&Spindle girls - lovely!